"What makes it especially difficult is the fact that virtually every second of the president's time, every step he takes is carefully plotted," said Mr Ned Price, a former spokesman for Barack Obama's National Security Council.

Mr Trump himself will face the challenge of being far from his staff and usual sources of information.

"For a man accustomed to watching cable news all day, foreign Potus travel will be like sensory deprivation," Ms Loren DeJonge Schulman, another Obama National Security Council staff, tweeted recently.

Despite the best laid efforts, some things just happen.

"Anything - from a hot mic to a protocol gaffe - will have outsized consequences when the president is on foreign soil," added Mr Price. - AFP